FEBRUARY 2013
Business Management: The Nuts & Bolts of Running a Business
MSDS Program in Transition... Are You Prepared?
Forethought & training makes better managers
Flooring Trends: Transform your floors into a functional piece of art
BECOME THE NEXT GREAT WRITE R...
By Christian D . Malesic, MBA, IOM Editor-in-Chief, At Home in Ber ks
not the best place to start. Consider magazine, journal, newspaper, or newsletter authorship.
There are two common ways to proceed. The first, and most common, is to find a need and fill it. Talk to the editor of the publication for which you wish to write to find out what content they need. A little known fact is that most magazines and journals theme each issue and often make available their Editorial Calendars, outlining the themes for the upcoming issues. If your expertise corresponds with an upcoming theme, contact the editor to see if they will allow you to try your hand at a piece for consideration.
Write it down! Tell the world. Accomplished authors, whether known worldwide or only in smaller professional circles, are able to reach every dream faster... and then some. Want to grow your business - write. Be offered the next promotion - write. Get a job, or a new job - write. People look up to the successful among us. They affiliate themselves with the accomplished. They hire, promote, or buy from the expert who has demonstrated they are a mover and shaker in their field. Are you?
What to Write You are an expert. There is something, maybe many things, which you do exceptionally well or know much about. Putting your wisdom to the page provides credibility to your work, helps your fellow man in an area with which they want to learn or improve, and gives you a strong 22
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sense of self-satisfaction when your work is published. Focus less on becoming the next multimillion dollar author of Harry Potter and more on being you. If you are not a storyteller, fiction may not be your area. Plus, unless you want to change careers to become a full time author, it will do little to help your current career. Write non-fiction; that is, how-to, why-it-works, knowledge, and educational pieces that will help others know what you know. Don’t worry about writing yourself out of a job, thinking if you write it down they won’t need you anymore. On the contrary, you will become THE source for your clients and coworkers alike.
How to Get Published
“You should write a book” is a common phrase in American lexicon that we hear, or say, often. Maybe a book is in your future. But, if you are not a writer now, and have never been published before, it is probably
The second, less common approach is to just write. Find a topic to which you bring passion, expertise, and experience and write an outstanding article. Work it and rework it. You are on your own time – you have no deadline. Revisit it in subsequent days or weeks to lay “fresh eyes” on it. When you have it almost where you want it, share it with a trusted advisor for their input and feedback. Rework it some more. Only after it is perfect – shop it around. Send it to editors of journals, magazines, newspapers, and newsletters to see if they will accept it. Don’t just send it to any editor of any publication. Research them first and make an honest judgment call on if your article would fit well in their publication. I have personally had much more success with the latter method; though, fellow authors tell me it is the path less travelled and much more difficult to find success. With over a dozen articles published in national publications and dozens more in state and local print, I have not found this, however, to be the case.
How Long Publications differ. In broadly speaking terms, there are three different article lengths – think of them as small, medium, and large. The common measuring tool is in number of words, as opposed to characters, found with some social media (such as Twitter); or, column inches, found predominantly in the newspaper world. A small article, then, is 600 to 800 words. Anything smaller is not really an article
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at all; but rather, an interesting fact, very short story, or report on an event. After being laid out on the page, adding graphics, advertisements, or sidebars, a 600 to 800 word article fills less than a full printed page. Medium-sized articles are the bread and butter of most publications, ranging from 800 to 1,200 words with a median length of 1,000 words. They either fill the printed page or extend to a second page when laid out and enhanced in production. It is possible that they will extend to a third page, though this is rare. I recommend you focus your early attempts in targeting this size. This is the perfect sized article to get an editor’s attention.
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As articles approach 1,200 words in length and exceed it, they become feature articles. Most magazines and journal have three or less feature article in each issue. Newspapers have one per section. And, newsletters have one per issue. Every author wants a cover story. You have to earn it. History is full of ‘naturals.’ Maybe you are one of them and can hit it out of the park on your first time at bat. Most of us thrive at on-the-job training. We make our mistakes along the way. Learn. And, improve.
All Authors Hate Editing You should have enough to say. In fact, you should have too much to say. It is much easier to ramble on long-winded than it is to be succinct. If you find yourself on the other side of the equation – searching for what to write – you have picked the wrong topic. As an example, after writing, rewriting, reviewing and tweaking this article, it was 1,557 words (I cut 362 words). Continued on page 24 Aspiring authors should become familiar with proofreaders marks on their submitted content. Naturally, most authors hope to see as few of these markings on their text as possible!
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Continued from page 23 Editing it down to size is always the hardest part of writing a piece, large or small. It separates the adults from children. Never send out into the world any piece unless you are convinced it is your latest masterpiece that outshines all previous work. Should an article not rise to that level, keep it to yourself until you make it so.
Professional vs. Amateur Pros get paid. Amateurs do not. Again, unless you are interested in changing careers to become a writer, use it as a supplement to your current career. Focus
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your efforts in writing the best piece possible and getting it to print rather than the few hundred dollars a paid author may receive. Success begets success. The more you are published, the easier becomes to get published. If you are good, editors will want you. Whether writing is your passion or you write about your passion, my advice is the same: get a few dozen publication successes under your belt before you ever consider doing so for payment. Stay an amateur writer as long as you can. When you go pro, go fast and make a splash. Dream big. Choose the most glorious publication in your field and work your way up to becoming a regular author in it. Your peers, contemporaries, clients, and boss will all appreciate your accomplishments and
Topics cover the gamut on issues of interest to Berks County residents; but, can be thought of as falling into two general categories: residential & business.
Residential:
Articles of all sizes, shapes, and colors covering the obvious ones you might expect from the Home Builders Association (such as: How to Hire a Remodeler, Tips on Getting the Perfect Deck, Preview of the 2012 Parade of Homes) plus the not so obvious ones (Property Tax Independence Act, The Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media, Decorating Techniques) and everything in between. At Home in Berks magazine is the Home Builders Association of Berks County’s (HBA) 32+ page, four color glossy, premium magazine that is distributed to more than 2,500 locations bi-monthly.
Though a copy is delivered to all members of the association, its target audience is the homeowner or soonto-be homeowner who resides and/ or works in Berks County, PA. Thus, copies are also available at dozens of distribution points throughout the county, including: doctor’s & dentist’s offices, retail locations, big box stores, mini-marts, building supply outlets, appliance stores, remodelers, and builders, to name a few...
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Business:
Most of our business articles are geared to the small business owner with a “News You Can Use” flair, that is, information you can put to use immediately in your business without a lot of glitz, glamour, philosophy, or pontification. What’s more, though we may love our fellow Americans in the Great States of Iowa, Maine, and Oregon or enjoy visiting warm-weathered Florida, New Mexico, or Texas, our articles are focused on home – business in Berks. Some topics have included: Leasing Commercial Real Estate: A How to Guide; King Cash, Queen Cash Flow, and Prince Profit; and Using Social Media to Increase Business.
will reward you with greater success in your career of choice. Become an author. Grow your career. Improve your life!
About the Author: Christian D. Malesic, MBA, IOM is the Executive Officer of the Home Builders Association of Berks County. He provides insight on construction issues, business operations, marketing, personal finance, and occasionally, on political philosophy/history. Contact Christian at the HBA of Berks County office: Christian@HBAberks.org or, to receive notice of the newest articles written by Christian, follow him on Twitter @CDMalesic.
At Home in Berks is especially unique as it is written by experts, not professional authors. In fact, employees of member companies are given top priority to write for the magazine, according to the editorial calendar, on topics on which they are exceptionally proficient. Additionally, budding amateur writers (defined as: unpaid), who are Berks County residents and are willing to write on topics as assigned by the Editor-in-Chief, are also given the opportunity to grow their talents and build their portfolios such that they may someday become professional writers (paid for their written work). As such, the magazine works with the communications and journalism departments of our wonderful Berks County colleges and universities to give students this unparalleled opportunity (though anyone is eligible to write for us, not just students). Your only investment is time, not money. The article cannot be an ad to use your services, though you will get credit as its author in the by-line and in very short “about the author” paragraph at the end. This FREE public relations is the reason the Board of the HBA created At Home in Berks - to give our members the opportunity to go directly to the public to demonstrate their expertise and increase business.